IN REALEASE 2026
THE BLUES IS ALIVE
Title: The Blues is Alive
Production: Film Studio Italy
CoProduction: Thejourneybegins
Country: Italy
Director: Gianni Petrizzo
Year: 2026| Runtime: 99 min
Genre: Hybrid Documentary
Cast: Gianni Petrizzo & Mauro Cianciulli
SYNOPSIS
Mauro is an Italian from Ascea (Sa), who has lived in Dallas, Texas, for over thirty years. After work, he plays the blues in small clubs, forgotten bars, and suburban jam sessions. A man out of place, out of touch with time, yet profoundly sincere. For him, the blues is much more than a musical genre: it’s a form of truth. Playing is his way of being in the world, of resisting, of healing old wounds that date back a long time, some from his childhood in Italy, others from the experience of emigration, loneliness, and disillusionment. One day, Gianni, a filmmaker friend who lives in Ascea, joins him in Dallas. They haven’t seen each other in thirty years, and Gianni gives Mauro an old photo of the two of them together in the ancient excavations of Ascea-Velia (Sa) during a field trip. Gianni is a television director. He’s ironic, rational, and ambitious. He regards Mauro with a certain condescension: he considers him a kind of voluntary castaway who has abandoned his goals and glory. Yet he decides to follow him on his nocturnal adventures with a camera, to understand why that musical genre has captivated him. Through Gianni’s eyes, but always within Mauro’s world, we discover a different America: the nightclubs of Dallas, Mississippi, Memphis, and New Orleans.